A renewal of a decades-long contract with a merchant services provider does not increase the costs to Miami-Dade County as it ramps up its own replacement service, but it costs some Water and Sewer customers an added 13.7% on their monthly payment processing fees. Miami-Dade has contracted since 2003 with a firm now named ACI payments Inc. for electronic payment processing for water and sewer bills and is now developing its own payment processing system. But the new system isn’t ready yet, so the county is buying time by contracting with ACI for another one to three years in the interim. ACI isn’t raising costs to the county, but in the new contract it’s raising the customer’s cost to process credit card payments from $3.95 to $4.49, which the county calls a “slight increase” of 13.7%. On its website, ACI Payments Inc. says it “is a leading provider of digital payment solutions for the IRS, as well as states, municipalities, colleges and universities nationwide.” The county says it can’t shift to a new vendor in the interim between the start of the new contract and the time Miami-Dade has its open system ready to handle the services that ACI provides, which include electronic check services for personal and business checking and savings accounts; credit card services including VISA and MasterCard; debit card services; and point-of-sale services for over-the-counter transactions using a virtual terminal application. Those services have been added piece by piece to the contract originally begun in 2003 with Princeton eCom Corp., the former name of ACI, as bill paying technologies advanced and became more common. In 2004 a change incorporated ePaybill Services, which entails submitting electronic bills to customers and processing payments electronically via the internet. Later that year, the county agreed to add Convenience Pay Services, providing a website and user interface that enables payers to remit payments through credit card and electronic (ACH) payments using eCom for amounts owed to the Water and Sewer Department. In 2006, the contract was amended to allow the department’s customers to use ATM and debit cards to pay their bills. In 2014, another change in the agreement introduced point-of-sale services that enabled over-the-counter payments. Now Miami-Dade County is overhauling its own customer care and billing services software and it isn’t interested in taking bids from competitors for the interim as that software is readied for use. “ACI is the only vendor who can provide these services with [the department’s] current software,” says a memo to county commissioners who are looking at approving a no-bid stopgap contract with ACI. A county committee is examining that proposal this week. The legislation notes that the county does not pay ACI for its credit card processing service, since the payment for the service comes directly from the customers – a cost that rose in September to $4.49 as the old contract ended and the new one took effect before commission approval was received. “Given ACI’s long-standing relationship with the county and the deep integration into the existing infrastructure,” the memo from Chief Operating Officer Jimmy Morales to commissioners said, “transitioning to a new vendor would likely cause significant operational disruptions, delays, and additional costs associated with system integration, testing and training.” Further, the memo said, ACI can handle sensitive payment information to comply with security standards, retaining customer trust. Related Posts:No county or consumer saving via PayPal use, study finds$109 million fare system on the road for transitway openingNew fare system may blur Broward County line for transitMiami-Dade requires retailers to accept cash paymentsMiami International Airport gets firm to engineer…The post Processing fees on water bill payments rise 13.7% appeared first on Miami Today.